Boston Coaches View Patriots’ Bill Belichick As ‘Dean’ Of Fraternity

There have been 25 men to call themselves a head coach or manager of the Boston Bruins, Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics or New England Patriots since 2000.

The lone constant? Bill Belichick.

Since being hired in January of 2000, Belichick has been the model of success for all Boston-area coaches. Though all four franchises have won at least one championship in the 21st century, the Patriots’ sustained success under Belichick is something that hasn’t been able to be replicated in New England during the two-plus decades he’s been in charge. The Red Sox have had eight managers. The Celtics have had seven head coaches. The Bruins have had nine.

Despite the wheels constantly turning around him, however, Belichick has been able to build a fraternity among Boston coaches.

In fact, he’s considered the “dean.”

“He’s the dean of coaches here… I can text him whenever I want, and out of nowhere he’ll text me.”

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Red Sox manager Alex Cora on Bill Belichick

“He’s the dean of coaches here, obviously because of who he is and his career. When you win so much … it’s amazing what he does,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told Steve Buckley of The Athletic. “I don’t know how it started with Bill. Obviously, we went there after winning the World Series in 2018 and I was able to talk to him a little. Since then … I can text him whenever I want, and out of nowhere he’ll text me.”

It has become a tradition for the Patriots to lead the charge in supporting other local teams, with New England often donning Red Sox, Bruins or Celtics hats at practice during playoff runs. Belichick and his players have also become fixtures at TD Garden, grabbing just as much Jumbotron screen time as the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The other local teams have been just as eager to show support in return.

The relationship between the coaches is something Belichick seemingly takes very seriously, as you can tell by the start to his relationship with Bruins bench boss Jim Montgomery.

“(Cora) is absolutely right — Bill is the dean. And you know how I met Bill? He reached out to me. And oddly, he did it through a mutual connection we have in St. Louis — someone who he knows and I know who now lives in Boston,” Montgomery told Buckley. “I took my sons down to Gillette Stadium, and about a half-hour before kickoff he came out to talk to us. He invited me to their spring camp, and I got to spend an entire day around him and his staff.”

That tradition of inviting coaches to Patriots training camp continued with Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who attended a practice as an assistant coach in 2022 and returned one year later as head coach.

Entering his 24th season with the Patriots, there isn’t much of a reason for Belichick to be as proactive with his fellow coaches as he is. That, perhaps surprisingly, isn’t the way he operates, however.